Senior Delaware prosecutor suspended
The Delaware Supreme Court suspended a senior prosecutor, R. David Fatava, for over half-a-year Tuesday, for prosecutorial misconduct during a trial.
In 2012, Fatava prosecuted Isaiah W. McCoy, who represented himself, on a slew of charges first degree intentional murder, first degree felony murder, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and robbery in the first degree. A trial jury found McCoy guilty of all charges, except for one count alleging motor vehicle theft. The court sentenced McCoy to death.
Because of Fatava’s misconduct, McCoy was able to win his appeals case against the state, Isaiah W. McCoy v. State of Delaware, which reversed his murder charge. McCoy is still in jail for first degree robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and other charges.
According to court documents, the Supreme Court “held that Fatava engaged in a pattern of unprofessional conduct throughout the trial, which included improper commentary, attempts to prevent Standby Counsel from providing assistance to McCoy, and disparaging remarks about McCoy with numerous demeaning comments focused on McCoy’s self-representation.”
The documents state that Fatava “mocked McCoy during cross-examination” and “actively generated a level of cynicism.”
At one point during the trial, the documents state that Fatava’s actions were so egregious that the trial judge reprimanded him.
The judge said to Fatava, in part, “I’m reaching a level which I am very upset (about) the way the prosecution is handling this case. I don’t appreciate the smart-ass remarks, pardon my French, but that’s what it is. You’re being disrespectful to the Court as well as to Mr. McCoy and witnesses.”
Among other things, Fatava also lied in court regarding a conversation he had while McCoy was in the courtroom during a recess. According to the documents Fatava made several statements, in McCoy’s presence, saying that he would put a detective back on the stand to testify that McCoy was “snitching”. Fatava continued to say that because a reporter was in the crowd, that word of McCoy’s snitching would get back to his fellow inmates, which would cause problems for McCoy back in jail.
When the trial judge returned, McCoy brought the conversation to the judge’s attention. According to the documents, Fatava denied that he had a conversation directly with McCoy and the matter was temporarily dropped. However, the court clerk who was present during Fatava’s conversation told the judge that Fatava as lying. Fatava later admitted that although he had not had the conversation with McCoy directly, he intentionally spoke loud enough that McCoy could hear him.
Given the evidence against McCoy, the Supreme Court decided to suspend Fatava for six months and a day and require Fatava to rehabilitate before returning to active practice.
